Literacy

At Highams Park School, we believe that Literacy underpins the school curriculum by developing students’ abilities to speak, listen, read and write for a wide range of purposes. Helping students to express themselves clearly, orally and in writing, enhances and enriches teaching and learning in all subjects. All departments and all teachers have a crucial role to play in supporting all students’ literacy development.

Our key literacy focus is to improve our teaching of reading to all students across the curriculum and to raise the reading ages of our lower ability readers through targeted intervention in class and outside the classroom. Our aim is to transform the lives of our students by closing the reading gap and bringing their reading age in line with their actual age.

Bedrock Learning Year 7 to Year 9

Bedrock Learning is a fantastic online programme which students will work on to improve and develop their levels of literacy, including vocabulary, comprehension and grammar.

The software can be used on any device, mobile phone tablet or pc, and is an extremely effective way to engage students in learning and practising vital literacy knowledge and skills that will take them forward both academically in Highams Park School and in life beyond.

Strategies and Opportunities:

• The use of Bedrock in Years 7-9, as well as for Year 10-11 interventions;  
• A focus on Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary.  All teachers are responsible for teaching students, through a range of strategies, the Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary that will enable them to be confident speakers, readers and writers in their subject and readying them for the world ahead. Lower ability readers and EAL learners must be given opportunity to ‘overlearn’ vocabulary, understanding word definition and how it works syntactically and contextually.
• Extra-curricular reading opportunities, the Library is open and managed by HLTA, Ms Sahana Shan, at break time and lunchtime. The Library is open for book borrowing and returns, quiet reading and study.
• Reading interventions; 
• One-to-one sessions for phonics support
• Pastoral Literacy Programme
• Celebrating reading events, such as World Book Week.
• Challenges and competitions which run throughout the year.